Mother's Day
by KateTheDreadful
Summary: River and Amy go on an interstellar road trip for some quality mother/daughter time. But, of course, all is not well at their destination, and soon they find themselves fighting to save motherhood throughout time and space. Silly fun.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I know it's a little out of season, but I had the idea now and I don't feel like waiting. Inspired by how awesome my mom is, here is the beginning of a silly little mother/daughter adventure with Amy and River. :)

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><p>Amy Pond was bored. Painfully, maddeningly, excruciatingly bored. She knew, of course, that she had no right to complain; she had a beautiful house, a great job, and, of course, her wonderful husband. But she couldn't help but miss the amazing adventures she'd had with the Doctor and the rest of her intergalactic, temporally dysfunctional family. It was all too normal here, too simple and quiet, never with any impending disasters to avert or terrible monsters to escape, and Amy was growing more and more bored with it.<p>

She had just finished up at work, if you could call posing in front of a camera in a short skirt work. There was nothing challenging, nothing dangerous or life-threatening, about being a model. At least Rory had the occasional excitement of some minor disaster bringing lots of patients in.

_No, _she caught herself, _that's a horrible way to think. You shouldn't want horrible things to happen to innocent people. _And she didn't, not really. She wanted horrible things to happen to _her, _so she could find her way out of them.

She didn't want Rory to know how bored she was. He might think she didn't appreciate him, or how good their life was, or something. As far as he knew, or at least as far as she knew he knew, Rory thought Amy was the happiest woman alive, and most of the time she was. But there were some days where she just needed to be miserable.

This was why Amy Pond could be found one fall day sitting on the back porch of her beautiful house, staring into a glass of whine and lamenting her terribly good fortune while she waited for her wonderful husband to return home. And that was why she was quite pleasantly surprised when a strange flash of light and a strange noise appeared in her backyard, then vanished, and were replaced with a grinning woman with curly blonde hair.

"Hello, Mum," said River Song cheerfully.

Amy jumped to her feet, as well as her mildly inebriated reflexes could, and ran to give her daughter a hug.

"River!" she exclaimed with delight, "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Neither have I, as it were," River said, laughing. "How have you been?" she asked, stepping back from their enthusiastic embrace.

"Oh," Amy said, surprised to be discussing her life, seeing as River's was probably far more interesting. "Great," she said, though her heart wasn't really in it. "Yeah, absolutely fantastic. I've got a new job, modeling, it's all a bit silly, but it's good, and…" she trailed off. River was raising an eyebrow at her knowingly.

"Oh, it's so frightfully _dull!" _she finally gave in, laughing hysterically to herself, and River joined her. Eventually she calmed down.

"How's Dad?" River asked conversationally.

"Oh, he's wonderful, as always," Amy said "But never mind him, what's that no-good husband of yours been up to?"

River rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh, he treats me so terribly," she said with ridiculously transparent feigned misery, "Gets me into all sorts of trouble, we barely escape, then he just leaves me behind again."

"I told you he was nothing but trouble from the start" Amy said, adopting a silly voice mimicking a cranky old woman and wagging her finger ridiculously.

"You will never understand our love, Mum!" River exclaimed, impersonating a bratty teenager. Both women burst into hysterical laughter once more.

"Seriously, though," Amy said, regaining her composure, "What brings you here now, all of a sudden?"

"What do you think?" River replied, laughing, "It's Mother's Day, of course I had to stop in for a visit!"

Amy paused, fairly certain this was incorrect, and tried to remember what the date was. Then she realized what was wrong. "It's…November, River," she said skeptically, "Mother's Day is in May, I think?"

River's eyes widened and she looked at the vortex manipulator on her wrist in confusion. "So it is. It was Mother's Day where I was, I assure you. I'm so sorry, this thing's been absolute rubbish lately…" She flicked the manipulator with irritation. "Must need to charge…"

"Well, I don't mind," Amy declared. "It can be Mother's Day here, too, if you like."

"Oh, we won't be spending it here!" River exclaimed, as though the mere suggestion of an Earth Mother's Day was ridiculous, "That wouldn't be exciting at all!"

Amy narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Then where are we going?"

River raised her eyebrows with a mysterious grin. "Somewhere there's real fun to be had." She turned on the vortex manipulator and began to type in some information. "Here," she gestured for Amy to come closer, "Hang onto me." Amy looked over her shoulder nervously.

"What, aren't we going to wait for Rory?" she asked, a bit surprised by River's sudden summons.

River crinkled her nose in disdain. "What, bring Dad along for a girl's night out? Don't be ridiculous. I'll take him on a trip when Father's Day comes around. Come along!" When Amy hesitated a moment longer, she added "Unless you'd rather I just got you a lousy card and some chocolates…"

At the threat of this, Amy threw her arms around River's shoulder's with a delighted smile. She hung on for dear life as the world went funny around her. It felt as though she was being sucked into a vaccum and shot out of a cannon all at once. She knew better than to open her eyes while shifting through time.

When she felt her feet on solid ground, she let go of River and took in the amazing atmosphere around her.

They were standing on a platform built into an immense tree, over an even more immense forest. All around them, people—well, aliens—of all shapes and sizes coated the trees, standing on similar platforms that appeared to be part of the trees themselves. All of the people appeared to be in families, smiling and hugging and kissing. It was like a magnificient city all made of trees—and by the look of it, the city was ready for a party. Below them, four huge rivers met at a cross, and in the center of that junction stood a very bizarre structure. It was a tree, shooting up out of the water that looked almost to have grown into a specific shape, specifically that of a rather curvy woman. Around it were many, many smaller trees that looked like dozens of little children. It was beautiful.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, drawn in by the beauty of it all. River smiled at her, absolutely beaming.

"This is the Festival of the Forest Mother: The greatest celebration of motherhood in the universe."

Amy whipped her head around to gaze at River in astonishment.

"Happy Mother's Day, Amy."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Oh hey, I'd forgotten about this. Well, here's some more.

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><p>Amy stood still and looked out at the splendor of the sight before her. The warm breeze blew through her hair, the sound of cheerful music from somewhere below her filled her ears, and she could smell something delicious cooking nearby. She smiled to herself and took it all in. There was nothing like the wonderful sensations of a foreign planet to relieve boredom.<p>

She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there, but evidently it was longer than she'd realized because suddenly River was pulling on her arm. "Didn't you hear me?" she asked, and Amy certainly had not. "Let's go! I know the view's lovely but you can't stand here all day, we've got to go enjoy ourselves!" She tugged Amy along behind her as she ran.

They hurried down a huge spiral staircase that had been carved into the very wood of the tree they were in. They passed one family on the way down, one made of cat-people, a mother being swept along by a small army of kittens squealing with joy as they pushed and pulled her. Despite their rather forceful treatment, the mother looked very content. Amy and River stopped as they reached the bottom of the stairs, but Amy realized they were still a very long way from the ground, on one of the many huge platforms built from the trees.

There were people everywhere, and some of them looked like people, and some were very clearly aliens. Amy was of course past the point where most alien life forms were shocking, but there were a few interesting specimens; One creature that looked like nothing more than an oversized tadpole was being carried around in a tank, by a troupe of small froglike beings with long spindly legs.

"Retro-metamorphic amphibian", River leaned over and muttered in Amy's ear when she noticed her staring, "They're like frogs or salamanders, except they're born on land, then lose their legs and arms and take to the water when they grow up. Those delightful young lads are carrying their mum around for the day. Isn't that sweet?" She grinned foolishly, and Amy decided that yes, it was, and laughed.

They walked along, carefully navigating their way through the crowds. There were so many families, of so many kinds. There were young couples strolling with a single small child holding their hands, young women by themselves with tiny babies, aliens and humans alike with huge swarms of children behind them, and every other combination you could imagine. There were also plenty of women by themselves, presumably who felt that a celebration of mothers should mean they didn't actually have to do any mothering, an opinion which Amy respectfully disagreed with.

"River," she asked, suddenly curious, "Where exactly are we?"

River looked around her. "Well, this looks like it's where all the vendors have set up. See the little shop windows carved into the trees? They're selling trinkets and flowers and treats and that sort of thing. Here, I'll get you something nice!" She started to hurry off, but Amy stopped her.

"No, I mean what planet?"

"Oh!" River stopped, and shook her head in disbelief. "I forgot to tell you! Well, that's part of makes this so special for us, actually. This is the Gamma Forest."

"Gamma forest…?" Amy searched through her memory, knowing she'd heard that before. River smiled enthusiastically, waiting for her to work it out, and eventually, she got it. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "the only water in the forest…!"

"That's right," River said with a joyous smile, and led Amy to the nearest edge of the great platform. They looked down over the flowing water.

"This is the river you were named after!" Amy cried, "Well, sort of," she added as an afterthought. "But that's so neat!" she added, her glee returning. They both laughed.

"Now come on, mum!" River said, tugging on her arm once again, "Every mother needs some flowers today.

They ran up to a nearby tree-window where a collection of unusual-looking plants were on display. A lovely bouquet of baby-blue flowers caught her eye. They were shaped a bit like tulips, and arranged like a set of Pan pipes, bound next to each other with each bright-green stem increasing in thickness and lengths.

"Oh, these are pretty…" she murmured, and leaned in to get a closer look. Suddenly, one of the flowers opened and out of it came a note like a songbird's call. "Eek!" Amy exclaimed and jumped back in surprise. River and the vendor, a tall, strong, dark-skinned man who looked human except for some very long, pointed ears, both laughed. The flowers then began to open and make sound in succession, playing out a little tune.

"Trilling tulips," the vendor explained with a musical foreign accent, "From the sky gardens on Persephonia. Perhaps your mother," he gestured towards River "would like a set to sing for her?" he smiled benevolently.

"Oh, no," River shook her head, earnestly but politely, "No, she's the mother, not me." Amy nodded quickly in agreement. The vendor looked extremely puzzled for a moment, then smiled in understanding.

"Oh," he said, throwing his hands up as if it should have been obvious, "You are from Fitzeros, of course, how silly of me."

Amy went to correct him, not having a clue what he was talking about, but River cut her off. "Yes," she said, "that's it. I would love a bouquet for my mother, thank you!" River paid for the flowers and handed them to Amy, and they were off again.

"What was he talking about?" Amy asked, perplexed "Fitzeros? What's that?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but from the conversation I can assume it's a planet where the people age in reverse" she replied calmly. "Such a thing isn't unheard of."

"You're going to let him think something wrong about you and you're not even sure what it is?" Amy asked, surprised.

"It was an explanation that satisfied him, and I didn't even have to come up with a lie." River said with a shrug. "Something I've found to be true, Mother dear, is it's easier to let someone believe a lie that makes them happy then explain a truth they might not like."


End file.
